The Barbarian Nurseries

The title, The Barbarian Nurseries, refers both to the issue of immigration, in which others view certain groups as “barbarians,” and the issue of parenthood. Specifically, it refers to parenthood in reference to the segment of society that is wealthy enough to essentially outsource childcare. In California in particular, it is becoming more common for families to hire immigrants as nannies, due to the lower cost of their work.

Tobar explores the interesting repercussions of this new lifestyle. For example, Brandon and Keenan both have a tentative grasp of Spanish, while neither parent—even half-Mexican Scott—have the same. When the boys are staying with Isabel Aguilar for the day, they converse with her children in a bilingual dialect. This group of “barbarians” that the employers consider less-than are raising their children and passing on their heritage.

There are also several times throughout the novel where Tobar cuts away to other households with Mexican employees. When Araceli is arrested, the heads of these households are suspicious of their employees, but then regain trust in “My Lupe, my Maria, my Soledad… you will wave your chestnut hands and return these sheets and comforters to order, and you will erase the grease from the kitchen surfaces and keep the ants away” (284). Suggesting that the wealthy employees are so reliant on their help that they refuse to consider them a danger, despite their prejudice.

Additionally, during the media storm, several experts debate the morality of having Mexican nannies because “isn’t it a sign of weakness in our social fabric that we do this? It’s the most important job we have. It’s the foundation of our civilization… Motherhood” (316).

This theme appears in Araceli and Maureen as well. Maureen feels the pressure to be a good mother running a happy family. When Araceli is arrested, she believes Maureen is angry and “wants to punish me for acting like their mother, even though I never asked to be their mother” (247). Their personal struggle is over the concept of motherhood as defined by society, rather than the concept of doing what is best for the boys. 

Throughout the novel, many of the characters try to escape their situations and their pasts. Most obviously, both Scott and Maureen attempt to escape their unhappy situation at home by leaving the house for a few days. Maureen goes to a spa to be pampered and taken care of—her idea of happiness. Meanwhile, Scott goes to Charlotte’s where he spends two days eating junk food and playing video games with her—essentially reverting to his bachelor lifestyle, when he was happy.

Both Scott and Maureen are also running from their unhappy childhoods. Maureen wishes to escape the memories of her abusive household and father, while Scott is trying to run from his lower-class, poor upbringing. Interestingly, Maureen and Scott end the novel by running away again, into a smaller house to escape the burden of their large house in the gated community. They want to leave all of their problems there, still without ever having truly talked about or confronted them: the issue of their surmounting financial problems remains.

Araceli is also running from her “her previous, directionless life in Mexico City” (4). She came to the US to escape and does things like save extra money for herself and create art to free herself from her oppressive past. She also literally runs from the police when they come to try to arrest her—though notably, she never runs away from the responsibility of caring for Brandon and Keenan.

In the final chapter, Araceli is running again. Ostensibly, she and Felipe are running to escape ICE, which will surely be looking for her. However, this flight has a different feeling—while she is trying to escape, there is the sense that she is running toward the future instead of away from the past. She has grown and has realized that she is powerful and her own person regardless of her past and experiences.